WHISPERS OF MY UTOPIA: I'M FASCINATED BY PEOPLE AND THEIR BEHAVIOURS

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Monthly Archives: February 2014

Donkey meat or not? This is one of the most inconceivable ideas in my life time. Why are we even debating about it. Am lost in the sheer entertaining of a notion that donkey meat can be consumed by humans for that matter. If my dad was to resurrect today, apart from the cultural shock due to the progress in technology which was not that phenomenal 14 years ago, he would be flummoxed by a society that toys with a donkey meal idea.

Even the conservative figure of less than 2 million which I believe was arrived at during the last census, is significantly low to serve a growing population of over 40 million. When you slot in donkey abattoirs in a country that is eager and obsessed with get-rich-quick mentality at all cost, I can only fear for the worst. That combined with a security force that is incapacitated and worse still, struggling to protect our very important lives, I can only sympathise with all the households that keep donkeys. Their new norm will be hue and cry, as their greatest possession will be the very target of envious brokers prowling from one homestead to another, ready to bungle their only means of livelihood to the next slaughter house.

In other words, donkey business is the new quail business, even with scanty information, gullible Kenyans still tried their luck when the most alert investors had already made some tidy returns. Ordinarily, in the upcountry, donkeys are highly valued for their enormous work in transporting bulky goods from one place to another at a cheaper cost vis-a-vis the boda boda guys.This reminds me of one of my many uncles who managed to surmount the poverty ‘curse’ through the donkey business.

For christians, the bible discourages eating of donkey meat. In fact in the book of Kings 6:25, it reads, “the donkey is unclean and should only be eaten as the last resort”. My interpretation is that the last resort are seasons of extreme famine. This is the new endangered species in town and my unfortunate bet is that, in the next 5-10 years they will be completely extinct. How unfortunate. Alfred Whitney Griswold, put it,”In the long run of history,the censor and inquisitor have always lost, the only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.” I rest my case.

On this particular Wednesday am with a friend sipping something cold along Kimathi Street and its clocking towards 7pm. What is in the headline, a pastor is caught red handed with somebody’s wife in a popular hotel in the buzzling small town of Karatina.I could hear my friend tap me, saying, “Pastor! Pastor!” as I was drawn to the news, of course we were all shocked.To the patrons, a new fodder to ‘kill’ the evening had been born. How on earth do a man of the cloth gather the strength and guts to convince his conscious and the married woman what he was doing was so ‘normal’.

This is more than daring the gods, who does that! this is a first! at least not the religious leaders…Enough of the lamenting, Kenyans will quickly forget that and move on. While at it and in the month of love, what is happening to the troubled waters of marriage is the new norm. The young and unmarried are disillusioned towards getting married. Wherever we turn are scandals and gossips of cheating and more cheating from the Hollandes in France to rumours of the Obama/Beyonce affairs to chiefs trying to reconcile couples in some sleepy villages in Kenya.

Back to the story, as the poor man dashed for his dear life amid jeering from the eager crowd, he got a thorough beating from the said husband to the woman, who had followed them to the hotel without their knowledge. The woman decided to lock herself in the building only to emerge later walking majestically, hiding the shame which was obviously well written in her countenance.

What stunned me in this whole drama is that 3 days later, the wife to the pastor appeared on T.V with her kids declaring publicly that they have forgiven their dad/husband. I was literally amazed, that is one kind of a wife. At least am old enough to understand how ladies in a relationship leave alone in marriage would seethe and vent anger through their eyes, nostrils and every opening ready to pounce on their partners.I have lost count on the many relationships which die off from the slightest allegation of one partner cheating.

What boardroom deals did this man strike with his family; two things, he is either a good negotiator or he is just lucky to have a wife with an even temperate. This pastor even went ahead to ask for forgiveness from his church and God. Am not sure if he used the devil as the scape-goat as many would do.

The society wont care whether his congregation and family have forgiven him, they will cast stones of condemnation to the pastor without first removing the logs in their eyes.Its human nature. This reminds me of the story in the bible where a mob which was eager to execute a woman caught in adultery. Jesus challenged anyone who had no sin to cast the first stone.